Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
One truly bizarre experience that my DD has run into is that the BETTER she seems to handle herself, (that is, the less "child-like" and irrational/unpredictable/emotional she is), the more she seems to wind some adults up.

Not sure how to coach her out of that one.

Here, honey-- study your agemates, and let's role play how a typical 16yo girl would handle being called into the dean's office (just an example).

Here's how a typical 15yo would respond when a TSA agent tells them to do something that isn't technically required by law...

whistle

That's the kind of thing that I'm getting at. Spaghetti's advice is very very good in situations like that-- the child HAS to remind the adult somehow that in spite of their gut instincts, they ARE still dealing with a person who is very much a child.

You could be right, but I'm wondering if it isn't so much her age and maturity as some particular cue or step she's making that is leading to this issue. Figure that out, then she can be coached on how to work around it in such situations. In other words, is there something other than her "age inappropriate behavior" that is like a red flag in front of a bull for certain types of authority figures? Not placing blame on her at all, just thinking from experience (mine!) that sometimes there are ways we come across that we need to tone down or phrase differently if we want to get through situations with minimal ill effects.

That said, I am fully aware that some people are just jerks.

Last edited by ConnectingDots; 09/22/15 02:27 PM.